"And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth."
(Revelation 11:3-4)
PART 1:
The same God that gives authority to the nations—the world in opposition against God and His people—to trample the church, is the same God that gives authority to His two witnesses to carry out gospel ministry.
Who are the two witnesses with this prophetic authority? Some identify them as the reappearance of Moses and Elijah or Elijah and Enoch or other figures. But the literal use of “two” doesn’t seem to fit the context. The symbolism in “two” has significance for several reasons. First, Deuteronomy 19:15 required that every word of testimony be established by the mouth of two or more witnesses. So, two witnesses proved the reliability of the word spoken. Second, Jesus sent out His disciples in their gospel ministry two by two. It reflects the pattern of the earliest Christian evangelistic work, giving some indication of the content of the prophetic work by the two witnesses. Third, “the two olive trees” phrase borrows similar images from Zechariah 4. He spoke of Zerubbabel and Joshua as two olive trees serving prophetically as king and priest in the renewed Jerusalem and rebuilt temple after the exile. Similarly, just as John has already told us, Christ has made His redeemed to be priests that reign upon the earth (Rev. 1:5-6; 5:9-10). Rather than seeing “two” as a literal number, it seems more in keeping with the passage to indicate this as another symbol for the church on mission in the world.
(Phil A. Newton)
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